The nurse currently quarantined in New Jersey is an employee for the Centers for Disease Control and a registered Democrat with a history of left-wing advocacy, Gotnews.com has learned.

Kaci Hickox’s ties to the CDC were not disclosed in a controversial anti-quarantine column she wrote for the Dallas Morning News. The CDC opposes quarantines or travel bans from Ebola infected countries.

Initially turned down for Doctors Without Borders, Hickox applied for a position with the Centers for Disease Control’s infectious disease unit. She received that position and began a two-year fellowship in Las Vegas, NV where she currently still works.

Hickox’s travels as a nurse took her to Myanmar, Cambodia, and Nigeria and convinced her of the importance of quarantines and “health surveillance,” according to the University of Texas-Arlington newsmagazine. “I realize that we need to find better ways to improve health surveillance and outbreak response in settings with poor resources,” Hickox said. “My training in the EIS with the CDC will allow me to learn the gold standard of this kind of work.”

But Hickox, who is a registered Democrat in Nevada, is ignoring health surveillance as she pushes back against a mandatory quarantine for persons working with ebola in West Africa.

Doctors Without Borders — where Hickox worked for a year, according to her LinkedIn– has already had nine deaths from Ebola and more than sixteen infections but Hickox is complaining about being detained under a mandatory 21-day quarantine.

She co-wrote an anti-pharmaceutical industry op-ed for the Baltimore Sun and advocated against policies that would have developed life-saving drugs. Instead, she called on Johns Hopkins to make all discoveries accessible to the poor. In so arguing, she deprived drug companies of a market and therefore an incentive to develop drugs aimed at Third World populations.

“We ask that new drugs developed from publicly-funded research be made available and affordable to the world’s most vulnerable,” Hickox wrote with several other students. “Without such a policy, our knowledge is only being shared with the wealthy.”

Kaci Hickox, a nurse under mandatory quarantine for Ebola monitoring in New Jersey, sent CNN this image of the tent where she is being isolated in a New Jersey Hospital on Sunday, October 26. Hospital officials told CNN the indoor tent is in a climate-controlled extended-care facility adjacent to the hospital. Hickox has twice tested negative for Ebola, including a test at the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta.

Hickox also sent this image of the toilet facilities in the tent. She has no shower, no flushable toilet and the hospital gave her no television or any reading material.(CNN) -- Kaci Hickox, a nurse placed under mandatory quarantine in New Jersey, went on CNN on Sunday and criticized the "knee-jerk reaction by politicians" to Ebola, saying "to quarantine someone without a better plan in place, without more forethought, is just preposterous."

Hickox, an epidemiologist who was working to help treat Ebola patients in Sierra Leone, has tested negative twice for Ebola and does not have symptoms, she said. She is quarantined for 21 days at University Hospital in Newark.

"This is an extreme that is really unacceptable, and I feel like my basic human rights have been violated," Hickox told CNN's Candy Crowley on "State of the Union."
She described herself as "physically strong" but "emotionally exhausted."

"To put me through this emotional and physical stress is completely unacceptable," she said.

She slammed New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie for describing her as "obviously ill."

"First of all, I don't think he's a doctor; secondly, he's never laid eyes on me; and thirdly, I've been asymptomatic since I've been here," Hickox told Crowley Sunday.

In a separate interview with CNN Senior Medical Correspondent Elizabeth Cohen, Hickox elaborated on what she thought of Christie's assessment of her medical condition.

"I'm sorry, but that's just a completely unacceptable statement in my opinion. For (Christie) -- a politician who's trusted and respected -- to make a statement that's categorically not true is just unacceptable and appalling."
"She's fine. She's not sick."

Hickox told Crowley that mandatory quarantine is "not a sound public health decision" and that public health officials -- not politicians -- should be making the policies related to Ebola and public safety.

"For the first 12 hours, I was in shock. Now I'm angry," she added.

On Sunday, Hickox's lawyers met with Hickox at the hospital, saying they had a 75-minute conversation through a piece of clear plastic while she sat inside the tent.

"She's fine. She's not sick," lawyer Steven Hyman said in a sidewalk news conference aired on CNN affiliate WABC. "She went and did a magnanimous thing and deserves to be treated with respect and dignity, not put in isolation because some political leaders decided it looks good to do that."

Lawyer Norman Siegal, former director of the New York Civil Liberties Union, said he'll be filing papers in court for Hickox to have a hearing no later than five days from the start of her confinement.

He said the doctors at the hospital say there's no medical reason to hold her. The policy Christie enacted is unconstitutional and too broad, he said.

"We need to know what the medical facts are and not rely on politicians who have their own vested interests," he said.

In a Sunday evening news conference, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio commented briefly on Hickox's case, saying that "what happened to her was inappropriate."

"This hero was treated with disrespect and was not given a clear direction."

"We owe her better than that, and all the people who do this work, better than that," he added.

'To put me in prison is just inhumane'

Hickox arrived in Newark Liberty Airport on Friday afternoon and after a seven-hour wait at the hospital. She was put in an isolation tent inside University Hospital in Newark. She's twice tested negative for Ebola, including a test at the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta.

Hickox says she has asked repeatedly but hasn't been told how long she'll be held at the hospital.

"To put me in prison," she said, "is just inhumane."

On Sunday night, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced he was changing the state's mandatory 21-day quarantine policy for health workers who return from the Ebola zone. People who worked with Ebola patients but don't show symptoms of having the virus can serve their 21-day quarantine at home, the governor's office said.

Christie spokesman Kevin Roberts said late Sunday night: "The protocol is clear that a New Jersey resident with no symptoms, but who has come into contact with someone with Ebola, such as a health care provider, would be subject to a mandatory quarantine order and quarantined at home. Nonresidents would be transported to their homes if feasible and, if not, quarantined in New Jersey."

On Fox News Sunday morning, Christie said he had "no second thoughts" about New Jersey's mandatory quarantine for health care workers.

"I believe that folks who want to take that step and are willing to volunteer also understand that it's in their interest and the public health interest to have a 21-day period thereafter if they've been directly exposed to people with the virus," he said.

Christie also told "Fox News Sunday" that a voluntary system of quarantine isn't reliable.

"I don't believe that when you're dealing with a serious situation like this that we can count on a voluntary system; this is the government's job."

At a news conference Saturday, the governor said, "I'm sorry if in any way she was inconvenienced, but inconvenience that could occur from having folks that are symptomatic and ill out amongst the public is a much, much greater concern of mine. I hope she recovers quickly."

Hickox said she has nothing to recover from. Her temperature is normal, and she feels fine.

"Everyone keeps asking how I'm feeling physically and of course I'm fine physically, but I don't think most people understand what it's like to be alone in a tent and decisions are being made that don't make sense and show no compassion," Hickox said, starting to cry.

"I just feel like fear is winning right now, and when fear wins, everyone loses."

Her life in quarantine

She's not allowed to have her luggage and was given paper scrubs to wear. Hickox said she has no shower, no flushable toilet and the hospital gave her no television or any reading material. Mostly, she says, she stares at the walls.

On Sunday afternoon, the hospital issued an update saying "the patient has computer access, use of her cell phone, reading material (magazines, newspaper) and requested and has received take-out food and drink."

Hickox said she's not allowed to see her lawyer or anyone else.

"The tent has a window, and doctors talk to me in normal clothes from outside the window," she says. "So if there's no risk to them talking to me from outside the window, it doesn't make any sense that my lawyer wouldn't be able to do the same."

A spokeswoman for the hospital said staff is trying to make Hickox comfortable.

"While we understand that the required quarantine is an inconvenience, it is our primary goal to make sure the patient is as comfortable as possible. We have given our prompt attention to provide the patient with basic needs and to accommodate additional requests made by the patient," said Stacie Newton, spokesperson for University Hospital in Newark.
Would policy discourage health workers?

Hickox said she worries that her experience will discourage other aid workers from going to West Africa to help quell the Ebola outbreak.

He said he's afraid some returning healthcare workers will skirt the system and end up not being monitored.

"You might have some renegade workers flying into Toronto and then driving home and so they're not on anyone's radar," he said. "If quarantines push people away from transparent, friendly, respectful, dialogue with public health workers, that may increase the risk back home."

Hickox said she would welcome Christie to visit her in the hospital.

"Maybe he could tell me what 'obviously ill' means. That would be great," she said.

She added that she doesn't regret her trip to help Ebola patients in Africa.

"Someone asked me earlier would I do this again if I knew what would happen, and my answer is categorically yes," she said. "I feel incredibly privileged to be able to do this work."

After hearing Hickox's phone interview with Candy Crowley on Sunday, New Jersey Health officials emailed CNN's "State of the Union" to refute some of the claims made by Hickox.

In the email, Donna Leusner, communications director for the New Jersey Department of Health, wrote that Hickox did receive reading materials and got computer access.

Leusner also wrote that "the patient was given a copy of the quarantine order on Friday and is receiving regular updated information."

In a sudden reversal, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said Monday that the state will release the quarantined American nurse who had been confined in a hospital isolation tent upon arrival from West Africa despite showing no signs of Ebola. As USA Today reports, Kaci Hickox, 33, was the first person pulled aside at Newark Liberty International Airport on Friday under Christie's new strict mandatory quarantine-for-21-days rules. It appears, as Reuters reports, Christie got a tap on the shoulder as The White House has told states that have imposed mandatory quarantines for some travelers from Ebola-hit West Africa that the policy could impede the fight against the disease. Additionally, in true litigious American style, Hickox plans to sue.The quarantined nurse is infuriated...

In a telephone interview with CNN, Hickox, a native Texan who now lives in Maine, said her confinement at University Hospital in Newark was "inhumane" and akin to being in prison. She said she has no symptoms and tested negative for Ebola.

"This is an extreme that is really unacceptable, and I feel like my basic human rights have been violated," Hickox who said on CNN's State of the Union.

24 hours after making the following statement: "I don't think when you're dealing with something as serious as this you can count on a voluntary system."This is the government's job." N

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said Monday that the state will release the quarantined American nurse who had been confined in a hospital isolation tent upon arrival from West Africa despite showing no signs of Ebola.

As USA Today reports, Christie writes that Hickox "has thankfully been symptom free for the last 24 hrs. After being evaluated by CDC & her clinicians the patient is being discharged."

The move came only hours after Christie defended his state's strict new regulations for medical aids returning from Ebola-stricken West Africa.

The White House has told states that have imposed mandatory quarantines for some travelers from Ebola-hit West Africa that the policy could impede the fight against the disease.

The White House voiced its concern to the governors of New York and New Jersey about the potential impact of quarantine orders, a senior administration official said on Sunday.

"We have let the governors of New York, New Jersey, and other states know that we have concerns with the unintended consequences of policies not grounded in science may have on efforts to combat Ebola at its source in West Africa," the Obama administration official said in a statement.

Kaci Hickox, a nurse placed in 21-day quarantine in a New Jersey hospital after returning from treating Ebola patients in Sierra Leone, will contest her quarantine in court, her attorney said on Sunday, arguing the order violates her constitutional rights.

* * *
We are sure they have it all under control - they have been preparing for months... and Ebola is so hard to catch.

The White House is working on new guidelines for such health care workers, according to a senior administration official.

The new guidelines are expected to be unveiled in the coming days, the official said. The official added that the administration is consulting with the states as they develop the new rules.

President Obama met Sunday with his Ebola response team, including "Ebola czar" Ron Klain and other public health and national security officials. According to the White House, the president said any measures concerning returning health care workers "should be crafted so as not to unnecessarily discourage those workers from serving."

Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, and United Nations Ambassador Samantha Power said quarantines may discourage health workers from traveling to West Africa to help block the disease at its source.

"If you put everyone in one basket, even people who are clearly no threat, then we have the problem of the disincentive of people that we need," Fauci said on ABC's This Week. "Let's not forget the best way to stop this epidemic and protect America is to stop it in Africa, and you can really help stopping it in Africa if we have our people, our heroes, the health care workers, go there and help us to protect America."

If you regularly read the Drudge Report, which by the way you should, then you ought to be aware of Doctors Without Borders nurse Kaci Hickox. This 33-year-old UTA grad penned a first-person piece for the Dallas Morning News in which she slammed the University Hospital in Newark, N.J., for not only placing her on an 21-day Ebola quarantine, but for also allegedly mistreating her.

The premise she’s driving at is that the United States should “treat returning health care workers with [more] dignity and humanity.” This of course means revoking New Jersey’s recently enacted 21-day mandatory Ebola quarantine policy. Because why in the world should a doctor who travels to an Ebola-stricken country to help others be inconvenienced with a quarantine when he or she returns home, right?

*rolling eyes*

Here’s where the story gets ever-so interesting. According to Got News correspondent Charles C. Johnson, nurse Kaci Hickox “is an employee for the Centers for Disease Control and a registered Democrat with a history of left-wing advocacy”:

Initially turned down for Doctors Without Borders, Hickox applied for a position with the Centers for Disease Control’s infectious disease unit. She received that position and began a two-year fellowship in Las Vegas, NV where she currently still works.

Furthermore, this delightful nurse once wrote a piece in which she “advocated against policies that would have developed life-saving drugs”:

Instead, she called on Johns Hopkins to make all discoveries accessible to the poor. In so arguing, she deprived drug companies of a market and therefore an incentive to develop drugs aimed at Third World populations.

Added to all this is the clear-cut fact that President Barack Obama strongly opposes the decision to quarantine “all medical workers returning from West Africa who [have] had contact with Ebola patients to be quarantined.”

So to recap, avid Democratic activist and CDC employee nurse Kaci Hickox penned a piece in which she slammed New Jersey Governor Chris Christie’s fair and equitable Ebola quarantine policy. And it just so happens that the Obama administration too opposes this same policy and wants it rescinded.

Question #1: How long do you think it will take before President Obama starts using this story to argue why imposing a mandatory Ebola quarantine is the wrong thing to do!?

Question #2: Why is it that the same woman who has no issues with placing her life at risk to help the less fortunate has a problem with her country placing her on a 21-day quarantine that might help save the lives of her fellow citizens!?

Chris Christie was forced on Monday to allow a nurse being kept in a tent in a hospital parking lot to go home after intense White House pressure to relax a mandatory 21-day quarantine the New Jersey Governor had imposed at a state level.The embarrassing turnaround came after Obama chaired a White House meeting on the rules and successfully lobbied Christie's New York counterpart, Gov. Andrew Cuomo, to relax their quarantine rules – even as Americans grow more concerned about the possibility of a pandemic emergency.

Cuomo gave in on behalf of New Yorkers. But as of Sunday Christie was still pushing for more aggressive measures to protect New Jerseyans, saying he had 'no second thoughts' about the policy.

Christie is a likely entrant into the 2016 Republican Party presidential primary, and the intergovernmental Ebola skirmishes will provide both major political parties with new ammunition.

Nurse Kaci Hickox tested negative for Ebola twice, but she had remained in a forced hospital quarantine as of Monday morning.

The governors of New York and New Jersey announced last week mandatory quarantine for people returning to the United States through airports in their states who are deemed 'high risk' but the rules have now been relaxed to allow self-quarantine at home. New York has rolled back its requirements but New Jersey, led by Chris Christie, pictured, is resisting pressure to do the same

The two states each have one of the five airports where passengers who have spent time in Liberia, Sierra Leone or Guinea are allowed to enter the United States.

Illinois, home to Chicago O'Hare International Airport, also has a similar quarantine order in place, in open defiance of the White House.

The Obama administration pushed back on Sunday, following the latest all-hands Ebola meeting in the White House.

'We have let the governors of New York, New Jersey, and others states know that we have concerns with the unintended consequences of policies not grounded in science may have on efforts to combat Ebola at its source in West Africa,' a senior administration official said in a statement after that gathering.

'We have also let these states know that we are working on new guidelines for returning healthcare workers that will protect the American people against imported cases, while, at the same time, enabling us to continue to tackle this epidemic in West Africa.'

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said Sunday on the CBS program 'Face the Nation' that state-level quarantines send a message to health care professionals that volunteering in the Ebola hot zone will present new levels of inconvenience when they return.

The New York Times first reported that aides to Obama were lobbying Christie and Cuomo to relax their new rules.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (center) says he doesn't know how his 'mandatory' quarantine would be enforced

There has been sharp criticism of the guidelines after Hickox was forcibly quarantined in a New Jersey hospital isolation unit, even though she had displayed no symptoms and had tested negative for Ebola.

Under the new New York guidelines, medical professionals who have had contact with Ebola patients can now be quarantined at home instead and receive twice-daily monitoring, if they have no symptoms.

Family members will be allowed to stay, and friends may also visit with the approval of health officials. Senior administration officials had called the initial decision on Friday by the governors to impose such rules 'uncoordinated and hurried.'

Meanwhile, Hickox, the first nurse forcibly quarantined in New Jersey under the state's new policy, said her isolation at a hospital was 'inhumane,' adding: 'We have to be very careful about letting politicians make health decisions.'Hickox is now suing and has now hired Norman Siegel, a high profile civil rights attorney, to challenge the order.

Christie on Sunday defended quarantining as necessary to protect the public and predicted it 'will become a national policy sooner rather than later.'

'The government's job is to protect safety and health of our citizens,' Christie said on Fox News Sunday. 'I have no second thoughts about it.'

+12

In a telephone interview with CNN, Kaci Hickox, the nurse quarantined at a New Jersey hospital because she had contact with Ebola patients in West Africa, said the process of keeping her isolated is 'inhumane'
Nurse Kaci Hickox was the first medical professional to be quarantined in New Jersey immediately upon returning to the United States from West Africa, where she had worked in treating Ebola patients.S he lashed out at Christie for giving her a diagnosis of sorts as 'obviously ill.'

Previously, Christie had characterized Hickox as 'obviously ill.'

'I'm sorry, but that's just a completely unacceptable statement in my opinion,' Hickox said Sunday during a phone interview with CNN. 'For him—a politician who's trusted and respected—to make a statement that's categorically not true is just unacceptable and appalling.'

Cuomo also came under scrutiny over the weekend for criticizing Craig Spencer, a doctor who tested positive for Ebola on Thursday, for not obeying a 21-day voluntary quarantine. However, on Sunday, he called the health care workers 'heroes' and said his administration would encourage more medical workers to volunteer to fight Ebola.

Under the revised protocols Cuomo detailed on Sunday night, the state also will pay for any lost compensation if the quarantined workers are not paid by a volunteer organization.

'My personal practice is to err on the side of caution,' Cuomo said. 'The old expression is, 'Hope for the best but prepare for the worst.''

For much of the weekend, the governors had been under fire from members of the medical community and the White House in what they saw as an overreaction.

Patient Nina Pham is hugged by Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, outside of National Institutes of Health (NIH) . Pham, the first nurse diagnosed with Ebola after treating an infected man at a Dallas hospital is free of the virus.

Dr. Anthony Fauci (left), director of The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, warned that the mandatory, 21-day quarantining of medical workers returning from West Africa is unnecessary and could discourage volunteers from traveling to the danger zone

'The best way to protect us is to stop the epidemic in Africa, and we need those health care workers, so we do not want to put them in a position where it makes it very, very uncomfortable for them to even volunteer to go,' said Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

Fauci made the rounds on five major Sunday morning talk shows to argue that policy should be driven by science — and that science says people with the virus are not contagious until symptoms appear. And even then, infection requires direct contact with bodily fluids.

He said that close monitoring of medical workers for symptoms is sufficient, and warned that forcibly separating them from others, or quarantining them, for three weeks could cripple the fight against the outbreak in West Africa — an argument that humanitarian medical organizations have also made.

'If we don't have our people volunteering to go over there, then you're going to have other countries that are not going to do it and then the epidemic will continue to roar,' Fauci said.

Fauci said that close monitoring of medical workers for symptoms is sufficient, and warned that forcibly separating them from others, or quarantining them, for three weeks could cripple the fight against the outbreak in West Africa, an argument that humanitarian medical organizations have also made

The New York-area quarantine measures were announced after Spencer returned to New York City from treating Ebola victims in Guinea for Doctors Without Borders and was admitted to Bellevue Hospital Center Thursday to be treated for Ebola. In the week after his return, he rode the subway, went bowling and ate at a restaurant.

Hospital officials said Sunday that Spencer was in serious but stable condition, was looking better than he did the day before, and tolerated a plasma treatment well.

Hickox, the quarantined nurse who just returned from Sierra Leone, said she had no symptoms at all and tested negative for Ebola in a preliminary evaluation.

'It's just a slippery slope, not a sound public health decision,' she said of the quarantine policy. 'I want to be treated with compassion and humanity, and don't feel I've been treated that way.'

Hickox has access to a computer, her cellphone, magazines and newspapers and has been allowed to have takeout food, New Jersey Health Department officials said.

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio called Hickox a 'returning hero' and charged that she was 'treated with disrespect,' as if she done something wrong, when she was put into quarantine. He said that she was interrogated repeatedly and things were not explained well to her.

Commuters ride inside an L train subway car. This is the same train line that Dr. Craig Spencer, a Doctors Without Borders physician who tested positive for the Ebola, had taken to visit a bowling alley in Brooklyn

Samantha Power, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations who is on a trip to West Africa, said returning U.S. health care workers should be 'treated like conquering heroes and not stigmatized for the tremendous work that they have done.'

In other developments, President Barack Obama met Sunday with his Ebola response team, including 'Ebola czar' Ron Klain and other public health and national security officials.

According to a statement released by the White House, Obama said any measures concerning returning health care workers 'should be crafted so as not to unnecessarily discourage those workers from serving.'

Florida Gov. Rick Scott ordered twice-daily monitoring for 21 days of anyone returning from the Ebola-stricken areas.The World Health Organization said more than 10,000 people have been infected with Ebola in the outbreak that came to light last March, and nearly half of them have died, mostly in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia.

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New York City Council District 7 Community Liason Fidel Malena hands out flyers about Ebola risk near the apartment building of Ebola patient Dr. Craig Spencer in Harlem

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Postal worker Keven Ngo, wearing a protective mask and gloves, prepares to deliver to the apartment building of Ebola patient Dr. Craig Spencer in Harlem

I think that someone posted on ALIPAC that 'Bama believes that he is a victim and that he won't be content until all Americans are victimized. That's the only thing that makes sense of his conduct.

As for the CDC opposing quarantines, that is simply stunning. Eboloa symtoms can take up to 21 days to manifest. A 21 day quarantine is the most sensible way to ensure that travelers are not contagious.

What is more important, inconvenience or saving lives?
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Americans first in this magnificent country

FORT KENT, ME - OCTOBER 31: Kaci Hickox gives a statement to the media in front of her home on October 31, 2014 in Fort Kent, Maine. After returning from Sierra Leone where she worked with Doctors Without Borders treating Ebola patients, nurse Hickox publicly challenged a quarantine order by the state of Maine. She has twice tested negative for Ebola and says she will lead a normal life unless she feels ill. Hickox and her boyfriend, both staying in Fort Kent, headed out for a bike ride yesterday morning followed by the media and State Police. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)Spencer Platt—Getty Images
Nurse has publicly railed against a forced quarantine

A nurse who was briefly quarantined after returning form treating Ebola patients in West Africa reached a settlement on Monday with Maine regarding precautions as she finishes out her 21-day incubation period.
Kaci Hickox, who was forcibly quarantined in New Jersey last month after returning from Sierra Leone, despite showing no symptoms and a negative Ebola test, is allowed to freely travel but must closely monitor her health and report any symptoms, Reuters reports. The agreement, which stays in effect through Nov. 10, requires monitoring that other returnees have already been doing.
Hickox had recently gotten into a legal battle with Maine over a forced quarantine, even going on a bike ride in a show of protest. On Oct. 31, a judge ruled she should be allowed to travel as she wishes, and that restricting her to her home was unnecessary.